It’s doubtful Idaho has more than an average number of bald men and women. But the state has produced more than its share of solutions for that balding.
U.S. Senator Glenn Taylor invented the Taylor Topper, a high-quality hairpiece after he left the Senate. His company is still in the family. The Topper came out in the 1950s, long after Idaho’s first attempt at presenting full heads of hair to everyone.
With the slogan, “Did you ever hear of a baldheaded Indian,” the Sage Brush Tonic Company LTD began in Shoshone in 1907. The original directors were F.W. Whittington, Frank Milsap, Thomas Starrh, Fred W. Gooding, and E. Walters, all of Shoshone, and Fred R. Reed of American Falls.
Although baldheaded Indians do exist (male pattern baldness is rare in Native Americans), the tonic was proclaimed “The Indians’ Gift to the White Man.” The brochure that came with every bottle shows an Indian man and woman brewing a pot of sagebrush tonic in a pot over a small fire.
In 1909, the Richfield Recorder reported that the “process (was) to gather the tender tips of the sage plant, at the time of blooming in early summer and cure them until the atmosphere dries out most of the water, then steam and boil them to extract the essential oils of the sage.” The paper reported that it was an old remedy used for ages by Idaho Indians.
The company went big from the beginning, constructing a factory on Rail Street and ordering 75,000 bottles in various sizes before the locals (“a good-sized force”) were hired at $2 a day to gather the sage leaves.
Manufacturing the tonic didn’t cost much. The finished liquid ran $1.71 a gallon, or 26 cents for a small bottle. Transportation was the killer, though. Even with the railroad running right by the factory, getting the bottles out to balding people all over the country proved too expensive. The company shuttered in 1910.
U.S. Senator Glenn Taylor invented the Taylor Topper, a high-quality hairpiece after he left the Senate. His company is still in the family. The Topper came out in the 1950s, long after Idaho’s first attempt at presenting full heads of hair to everyone.
With the slogan, “Did you ever hear of a baldheaded Indian,” the Sage Brush Tonic Company LTD began in Shoshone in 1907. The original directors were F.W. Whittington, Frank Milsap, Thomas Starrh, Fred W. Gooding, and E. Walters, all of Shoshone, and Fred R. Reed of American Falls.
Although baldheaded Indians do exist (male pattern baldness is rare in Native Americans), the tonic was proclaimed “The Indians’ Gift to the White Man.” The brochure that came with every bottle shows an Indian man and woman brewing a pot of sagebrush tonic in a pot over a small fire.
In 1909, the Richfield Recorder reported that the “process (was) to gather the tender tips of the sage plant, at the time of blooming in early summer and cure them until the atmosphere dries out most of the water, then steam and boil them to extract the essential oils of the sage.” The paper reported that it was an old remedy used for ages by Idaho Indians.
The company went big from the beginning, constructing a factory on Rail Street and ordering 75,000 bottles in various sizes before the locals (“a good-sized force”) were hired at $2 a day to gather the sage leaves.
Manufacturing the tonic didn’t cost much. The finished liquid ran $1.71 a gallon, or 26 cents for a small bottle. Transportation was the killer, though. Even with the railroad running right by the factory, getting the bottles out to balding people all over the country proved too expensive. The company shuttered in 1910.
Sage Brush Hair Tonic came in graceful bottles that, if left in the sun, turned a lovely amethyst.
This brochure came packed with every bottle.
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